Windows has more great programs than we can count, but some are essential to just about every PC…
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As always, we have the good folks at Ninite helping us out this year, creating a one-click installer for the 2012 Windows Lifehacker Pack. You can download the entire pack at once, or just pick the apps you want, and Ninite will install them all at once—perfect for new Windows installations or setting up your friends with a good set of apps. And, just like last year, we have two packs for Windows: an Essentials pack that everyone should have, and an Extended pack, which includes some tools that more hardcore users will probably need around.

The days of clicking on the start menu and flipping through programs are over. With Launchy, you can start apps with just a few keystrokes, not to mention open files, folders, and web sites. Launchy's plugin system makes it even more versatile, letting you perform nearly any action you can think of, from calculations to task management to searching the web. Once you start using it, you'll never be able to imagine life without it.

Windows' default Notepad app is okay, but it doesn't really offer you anything besides very, very basic text entry. If you're looking for something a little more advanced—particularly if you're editing config files or other code—you need something like Notepad++. It'll color code your text depending on what language its in, let you search through documents, edit multiple documents at once in tabs, and let you add pretty much any other feature through custom scripts and plugins. If you're editing anything beyond basic text—and an office suite doesn't really fit your needs—Notepad++ is essential.

We all have a bit of clutter on our hard drives, but it's impossible to keep everything organized on our own. That's where Belvedere comes in, an automatic file sorter written by our own Adam Pash. You can tell it where to put files based on how old they are, what extension they have, and lots more. It'll do it all automatically, creating an organized, automated home folder for you. Check out our guide to automating your documents for more info on how to set it up.

Who wants to open Adobe Reader just to read a PDF file? No one, that's who. Uninstall that bloated program and grab SumatraPDF, a fast, lightweight, and dead simple PDF reader perfect for those quick documents. It's even got a few keyboard shortcuts for you speed freaks.

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If you need more features from your PDF reader, though, you can check out the more advanced PDF-XChange.

Chrome is still our favorite browser around, due to its awesome extension library, mad syncing skills, and simple UI. Not to mention that it keeps adding new features like prefetching, that loads previously visited pages almost instantaneously, and offline support for Google services like Gmail and Docs. It may not be the fastest browser around, but it's still our top pick.

Thunderbird may be done developing new features, but it's still a great mail client for those that need their inbox on their desktop. It's free, extensible, and supports nearly everything we'd want in a mail client. Even if you read your mail on the web, you should have a client like Thunderbird around for local backup, and for those rare occasions when Gmail goes down.

For those of you that still make use of instant messaging, Pidgin is our favorite app to do the job. It lets you connect to a ton of different IM services, including AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, Facebook Chat, and more, all combined into one simple buddy list. Couple that with all of its awesome plugins, and you have an IM app that can do nearly anything you want, all for the low price of $0.

We know, we know, no one likes Flash. Sadly, it's still an essential part of the web, whether you're playing videos, using a webapp, or just getting around a simple web site. So, while it may run up your fans and crash your browser once in awhile, it's still a necessity. Of course, you can block unnecessary flash from running with FlashBlock for Chrome and Firefox.

VLC isn't our favorite video player for Windows, but it is one that everyone should have. It'll play nearly any video file you run into, not to mention DVDs, and it has a ton of cool, advanced features—like the ability to fix movies that get too loud. Even if you have another go-to video player, VLC is great for those times when everything else is acting up.

We all have photos to manage, and we love Picasa for making it dead simple to do. Just import your photo folders and it'll help you organize them, not to mention watch that folder and add new photos whenever you take them. It even has a few editing tools that are super easy to use so even the most novice photographers among us can make their pictures look a little better. Plus you can upload them all to the cloud for easy sharing and backup.

Most of us don't need a full-fledged editor like Photoshop to tweak our images. Paint.NET is a great alternative, offering basic, easy-to-use image editing without coughing up hundreds of dollars. When all you need is a small crop here or a copy and paste there, Paint.NET fits the bill without any fuss.

Everyone has their own opinion about which music player is best, and it's impossible to pick one that's going to be right for everyone. However, if pushed, we'd pick Winamp, because it's easy to use, but with enough advanced features to satisfy even the geekiest of users. Chances are, Winamp will fit your needs just fine, so if you're on the hunt for a music organizer, it's a good place to start.

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If you have more specific desires, however, we've included a number of other music players in the Extended Pack below.

If you're looking to download some big files, BitTorrent is the way to go, and µTorrent is our favorite BitTorrent client for Windows. It's lightweight and easy to use, yet feature-filled, offering ways to share files directly with your friends, stream videos as you download them, and monitor your torrents from other devices. Just make sure you anonymize all your traffic to keep yourself safe from prying eyes.

Few of us use only one computer nowadays—most of us have a home computer, a work computer, maybe a laptop, and even a smartphone. Unfortunately, that means your files are scattered everywhere. Dropbox fixes this problem, syncing your files between all your computers and to the cloud for easy access no matter where you go (not to mention it's useful for a lot of other things, too). You get 2GB to start, but you can get a ton of extra space for free.

Everyone should back up their computer, and CrashPlan is the best tool around to make it happen. It can back up to an external drive, to the cloud, or even to remote computers. Just set it up once and forget it, and your data will be safe and sound even in a catastrophe like a fire or earthquake.

It's hard to stay on top of all your email, text messages, and other important notifications that come through your devices all day long. Growl provides an easy way to consolidate all of those notifications into one unified, customizable place sto you can stay on top of everything without it interrupting you. Download the program below, then check out our guide to how to set it all up.

Windows requires a bit more maintenance than other OSes, but CCleaner makes it easy to do. It'll uninstall programs, clean up leftover files and cruft, and lots more. Get it, run it on a schedule, and enjoy your faster computer.

Windows' built-in Add/Remove Programs is okay, but it isn't always the best at uninstalling your programs. Revo Uninstaller is a great tool that cleans up the extra files Windows misses. Not only that, but it'll even help you fix your startup items and uninstall programs you can't find with its Hunter Mode. It's a must-have for any software junkie.

Windows can create and read ZIP files, but when it comes to other archives—like RAR, 7z, and others—you'll need another program. 7-Zip is our favorite archive manager: it's super easy to use, but extremely powerful, especially when you use its incredibly efficient 7z archive type. It's also got some handy security features, which are great for sending sensitive info over the internet.

You don't need to go crazy in order to protect yourself from viruses. In fact, Microsoft's own security program is all you really need. It's lightweight, good at catching viruses, and couldn't be simpler to use. All you need to do is schedule a time for your regular scans and it'll keep you protected, without bogging down the rest of your machine like other antivirus programs.

You can do so much on the web today, but every once in awhile you just need a true office program. LibreOffice is a great suite that's 100% free, and is pretty easy to use for your basic word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation needs. Even if you don't need it regularly, it's nice to have around for those times you need a real word processor.

When it comes to more advanced office needs, LibreOffice doesn't usually cut it. In those cases, you'll have to whip out the tried and true Microsoft Office suite, which we've included in the Extended Pack. If you don't need to edit Microsoft Office documents, but you need to be able to read them—without any formatting errors and other quirks—the free Office Viewers will do the trick.

Unlike Flash, these frameworks aren't required right away. You probably won't notice until you run into a program that uses one, which is becoming a bit rarer and rarer. However, if you're setting up a new machine, you might as well download them all now so you have them, and don't have to deal with it later on. Waiting for Silverlight to download is a pretty big buzzkill when all you want is some Netflix.

Teracopy is one of those apps that you install once and forget its ever there—but in a good way. Teracopy handles all your file copying and moving, and it does a much better job than Windows Explorer. Not only is it fast, but it can also pause and resume transfers, not to mention recover from any errors that happen. A must have for any Windows user.

It's not a program everyone will necessarily need, and it isn't as versatile as something like CDBurnerXP, but it's something that every geek will need to have at one point or another. Whether you're copying a DVD, burning a Linux live CD, or just installing a downloaded copy of Windows, ImgBurn is here to help you out.

Winamp is a great starting point for music players, but if you have specific needs, these players will help get the job done. iTunes, while awful, is a must-have for managing iOS devices, while MediaMonkey is great at organizing large libraries and Foobar2000 is insanely customizable. If one of these doesn't tickle your fancy, check out all of the other awesome music players available for Windows. You're bound to find something you like.

Even if you like to keep your music on your hard drive, an app like Spotify is great to have around—whether for its music discovery capabilities or the ability to create collaborative playlists with your friends. It's also great for testing out albums you aren't sure you want to buy yet. We've stuck it in the Extended Pack for you music junkies that are okay with having more than one player around.

AutoHotkey isn't a necessity by any means, but if you're willing to get your hands a little dirtier (digitally speaking), it's an incredible tool that can make your life so much better—whether you want to turn any action into a keyboard shortcut or just give those unused keyboard keys a little love. It may sound scary at first, but it's incredibly easy to use, even if you aren't familiar with scripting languages, so give it a shot even if you're skeptical. You'll never go back.

Once again, to get the above programs, just head over to the Pack on Ninite and select the apps you want. It'll give them all to you in one, unified, hassle-free installer. If you're looking for more options, or just to see what's changed for 2012, check out last year's Lifehacker Pack for Windows.